


Sleeping with Dragons

by Onmyliteraturebullshitagain



Series: Zukka + Dragon [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, As always there are emotions because it's Zukka, Based on a Tumblr Post, Druk the Dragon - Freeform, Established Relationship, Fanart, Feels, Fire Lord Zuko, Fluff and Humor, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, Post-Canon, Sokka and Zuko are married, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29335848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain/pseuds/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain
Summary: Sokka discovers that it's a bit of an adjustment dealing with his husband's sweet, clingy, bed-hogging dragon as he grows.Based on the incredible art byguiltyportfolioon tumblr linked here:The Evolution of Sleeping with Druk
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zukka + Dragon [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2154747
Comments: 74
Kudos: 374





	Sleeping with Dragons

@guiltyportfolio

It hadn't been so bad when Druk was the size of a saber-tooth moose lion cub. Sure, he was longer and pricklier and less soft than Foo Foo Cuddly Poops had been, but he was still pretty little and mostly just curled up on the pillow near Zuko's head and quietly snored. Granted, occasionally Sokka got slapped in the face by the end of a tail or the tip of a wing while he was trying to sleep, which he could have done without. It was bad enough with Zuko sleeping so warm and sometimes thrashing and kicking him, so adding a dragon to the sleeping arrangement? 

Let's just say, it was lucky Druk was so cute.

And he _was_ cute, with his red scales and little whiskers and soft, fringy… was it fur? feathers? whatever it was. The fluffy bits on his cheeks and down his forehead and spine that he loved having scratched. Basically, he was all curly serpent body and happy purring, chirping sounds and rubbing his face fondly against Sokka's head when the mood struck. He made his poofs of smoke and tiny flames and begged for table scraps and twisted up around whatever shoulder was available so he could ride along wherever his people went. It was hard to stay annoyed at a creature like that. And it helped too that Zuko loved Druk so much it made Sokka's heart hurt sometimes. It was like all his hope for redeeming the Fire Nation had gotten wrapped up in that little dragon, that symbol of a new era. Druk was a living example of how Zuko was a different Fire Lord than his father, that firebending didn’t have to be about violence and war.

So really, sharing a bed with his oven of a husband and his husband's cuddle-hogging dragon was worth it.

But, just like a baby saber-tooth moose lion, Druk kept growing. 

When he was about otter-penguin size, he could still be carried, but now it was a little more of an effort. Druk propped his chin on top of Sokka's head and huffed out a little contented smoke when Sokka hefted and carried him around on his shoulders and in his arms while Zuko was in important, Fire Lord-y meetings. He also tried very hard to steal Sokka's pillow at night, which became an annoying battle for territory with an increasingly large dragon. Zuko just laughed and adjusted so Sokka was on one side of him and Druk on the other. Druk also got his own pillow.

"Seriously?" Sokka complained.

"You're still my favorite," Zuko said, pulling Sokka into his chest and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

"I better be," Sokka muttered, nuzzling into Zuko's chest. "I'm your _husband_ after all."

Druk purred and pushed himself into Zuko's other side and under his hand, and Zuko chuckled and rubbed at his head too.

Sokka sighed. 

And Druk just kept getting bigger. And their bed stayed the same size.

Now, when Sokka wanted to tuck himself under Zuko's left arm to sleep, there was a near Sokka-sized dragon under Zuko's right arm too. Sokka grumbled, and Zuko rubbed his shoulder and kissed his forehead, and Druk gave his own pleased puff of smoke.

"My boys," Zuko said fondly.

"So this is our marriage now?" Sokka asked with a huff.

Zuko nuzzled against his head. "Do you really want me to get him down?"

Sokka sighed. "No," he admitted on a long exhale and reached across Zuko to scratch at Druk's cheek ruffles.

Zuko was clearly Druk's absolutely favorite person, the one he whined for if he got shut away from him and left alone for too long. The palace staff had just accepted that sometimes they'd have to maneuver around piles of dragon body curled up outside a meeting chamber door, nose pressed against it and leaving singes on the wood. Most of them had adjusted to the presence of a polar bear dog-sized dragon laying in hallways or across walkways and would politely greet him or pat his head and then skirt around. But if he was especially in the way, sometimes a messenger or servant would go seek out Druk's second favorite person.

"Master Sokka?" someone would ask meekly from the doorway, and Sokka would look up from whatever he was doing and recognize their expression.

"Druk?" he'd ask anyway, a little tiredly, and then head off to deal with his husband's dragon. 

On one such day, he found Druk outside the main counsel chambers, which meant he was lying right across the busiest hallway in the whole palace. He was now almost eleven feet long and could barely be encircled with both arms around the width of his body, and to make matters worse, he was prone to spreading out his wings when he was pouting. So now the dragon was sprawled and making absolutely no effort not to take up as much space as possible, and there were a handful of people trapped on his other side looking confused and frustrated.

"He's in a meeting, buddy," Sokka said to the massive dragon still crying at a shut door, and Druk oriented to look at Sokka with his shiny gold eyes. "How 'bout we go play, huh? Wouldn't that be more fun than laying in a hallway?"

Druk watched him for a moment, but at Sokka's next beckon, the dragon finally got up to follow Sokka down the hallway and outside. There was an audible sigh of relief from the staff as the dragon dropped his head on Sokka's shoulder and walked along behind him.

"Oh I know," Sokka said, scratching Druk's chin. "Your life is just so hard and unfair." 

Sokka went and grabbed the sturdy leather ball he'd made just to be dragon-tooth resistant and led a much happier Druk out into the garden. 

"Fetch!" Sokka yelled and heaved the ball as far as he could, and Druk did, making his happiest, loudest chirps as he did.

Then they practiced acrobatic tricks Druk could do while he flew. He was still a little small to be ridden, but Sokka knew Druk liked flying and liked puzzles and liked Sokka. So he found things for him to do, and then later, when Zuko finally emerged to find them in the garden together, Sokka could show off how Druk could fly in a loop-de-loop or light thrown sticks on fire in mid-air. 

But then night came, and there was a dragon sprawled across most of the bed, leaving about a square foot for Sokka to somehow squish into. 

"Dude, move," Sokka said, poking Druk in the side. "Come on, I'm behind on work because I played with you all afternoon!"

Zuko laughed and nudged Druk, who moved a little bit but not nearly enough.

"Mr. Fire Lord, if there's no bed for me, I swear I'll sleep right on top of you," Sokka warned, already circling toward his side of the bed.

"Come on, Druk," Zuko said, shoving the dragon. "Make room for your other dad."

And Druk did, a little bit, although Sokka basically got cooked alive as he slept between the warmth of his husband and the warmth of their (apparent) child. 

And the dragon just kept growing.

"Zuko, we have to talk about Druk," Sokka said, partially pinned by a large dragon body flopped across his lap and arching up to lay his big head on Zuko's shoulder while he worked at his desk. The dragon, quite honestly, took up about half the room at this point.

"I know," Zuko said fondly, not taking his eyes off his documents. "He's so cute, isn't he?"

And Sokka just sighed and accepted that apparently this was his life now, being a lap for a massive dragon instead of doing his actual job. Let's just say, Zuko was lucky Sokka loved him so much.

And Druk got even bigger, to the point where some of the council members (and the palace staff, and the guards) were starting to ask if the very large fire-breathing dragon that barely fit through doorways and constantly blocked hallways and absolutely terrified visiting dignitaries might be more comfortable outside, with his own space.

Zuko, at these suggestions, looked like someone had just told him they were going to murder his whole family.

"But…" he said, arms around Druk's head, which by now was at least the size of his torso. "But it's _Druk._ "

No one quite knew how to respond to that, but at the unwavering expressions of his council, Zuko did lead Druk outside. But he also didn't come back in. When Sokka was able to duck out of his next meeting, a servant told him politely that the Fire Lord had missed two of his afternoon meetings and could he please, possibly, go track down his husband? Sokka nodded immediately, ignoring the nervousness in his belly, and went searching for him.

Zuko was outside near the turtle-duck pond. Or really, _Druk_ was near the turtle-duck pond, and on closer inspection, Zuko was tucked into the loops of his body, the dragon's head curved to be in his lap still. Sokka stepped over a length of tail to enter the circle of dragon body, and Druk raised his head to purr at him in greeting.

"There're my boys," Sokka said, shoving Druk enough that he can sink down beside his husband.

Zuko just scratched Druk again and didn't say anything. But Sokka had learned to wait him out, to give him his time.

"I'm not stupid," Zuko said finally. "I know Druk's gonna get too big and can't fit in the palace forever."

Sokka leaned into his side as Druk dropped his head back in Zuko's lap. 

"So… what's going on then?" Sokka asked gently.

Zuko rubbed a hand down Druk's nose, fingers following the track of scales with practiced familiarity.

"He just… really loves me," he confessed quietly.

Sokka reached out and found Zuko's free hand.

"Of course he does," Sokka said, still confused, "and he'll… still love you even if he can't fit inside anymore."

Zuko nodded, but somehow Sokka realized that wasn't quite what this was about. He ran a hand along a few of the scales on Druk's side, watching the way the red glimmered under the sun, and looked out at the garden. As much as Zuko had made changes in the Fire Nation, the palace and it's gardens had remained mostly untouched by that evolution. Slowly, something clicked in his head.

"The people who loved you when you were younger, in this same palace…" he whispered finally, "got taken away."

Zuko didn't look at him, but he did squeeze their joined hands.

"Druk's not getting taken away," Sokka said softly. "Never. We won't let it happen-- _he_ won't let it happen. He barely tolerates you leaving him to use the bathroom."

Zuko managed a thin smile at that and rubbed along the ridges over Druk's eyes. The dragon sighed.

"And," Sokka went on, "I'm not getting taken away either. Or Aang or Toph or Uncle Iroh or anyone else who loves you. You get to keep all of us forever."

Zuko finally looked over at him, expression fragile. Druk, probably sensing this, nosed at his hand and chirped a little again.

"I know I'm being stupid," Zuko said.

"You're really not," Sokka replied.

"All that was years ago," Zuko went on anyway. "I _know_ I've got you now, and everyone else. I know Druk's not leaving or gonna stop loving me. I _know_ that."

Sokka nodded, the unspoken 'but…' of childhood trauma hanging in the air between them. He put an arm around Zuko's shoulders.

"You know," he murmured, "I've always thought this whole Fire Palace whatever-it-is could use some renovation."

"We've _done_ renovation."

"Taking down pictures of the old Fire Lord and removing the fire in the throne room doesn't count as 'renovation'," Sokka insisted. 

"Well…" Zuko hedged.

"Fine," Sokka said. "How about _more_ renovations?" He grinned. "Dragon-sized renovation."

Zuko shot him a look. "The council would never allow it."

Sokka rubbed his chin. "I'm not so sure about that. I think we could swing it," he replied, gears already turning. "I mean, who could possibly be a better personal bodyguard for the Fire Lord--a nice official position--than a literal _dragon_?"

Zuko grunted a laugh. 

"Ozai could _never_ ," Sokka went on, grinning more broadly. "But _we_ could!"

Zuko looked over at him again. 

"Enlarge some doorways," Sokka continued, tapping his chin again. "Open up some ceilings or even take off a few roofs in certain places… turn some of those underground tunnels into dragon walkways for the areas we can't change or make large enough…" He smiled more. "Ooh, this is a project finally worthy of my brilliance."

Zuko gave a low chuckle and moved to kiss his cheek, leaning more into his side.

"He'll still eventually outgrow the palace if he ends up anywhere near the size of Ran and Shaw," he said softly.

"Sure _eventually,_ " Sokka said with another smile, "but not yet. Not for a while. Isn't that right, buddy?" he added, rubbing one of Druk's cheek ruffles.

The dragon purred back in response, giving a lazy, contented blink of his eyes, and that response seemed good enough for Zuko too.

As soon as they left the garden, Sokka went to talk to someone about this new construction project. It'd take a bit of doing, but for Zuko? To help replace some of his terrible memories of this palace? Sokka would definitely make it work.

That night when he came to bed, Druk was on the floor with just his head propped up next to Zuko's right side, still attempting to utilize his now too-small pillow. But this meant there was a whole empty swatch of mattress just waiting for Sokka.

"All for me?" he asked, laughing a little.

"Told you that you were my favorite," Zuko said with a face so obviously full of love, Sokka couldn't stand it.

That didn't keep him from immediately flopping face-down with all his limbs extended into the blankets though.

But in the middle of the night, Sokka woke up and realized he was actually… cold? When had that happened? He had Zuko still pressed up against and heating them both with his inner flame but…

He sighed. Apparently this was his life now.

"Druk," he hissed picking up his head and squinting across the bed.

He heard the dragon move rather than saw him, and he patted the bed to invite him back up. Druk happily obliged, although about half of him still had to stay on the floor simply based on size. He curled up as much as he could around both Sokka and Zuko, head squished fondly into Sokka's back. It was ridiculous, and he was pointy and warm and huffing at Sokka's neck. But still, Sokka fell asleep much easier, somehow, tucked between his husband and their increasingly enormous dragon.

**Author's Note:**

> I figured I'd let Midwest Zukka nap for a bit (they deserve it) and instead toss out my art-inspired, sort-of canon/post-canon story about a dragon. Hope you enjoyed this change of directions! 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments and screeching at me on tumblr (onmyliteraturebullshitagain) absolutely encouraged :)


End file.
